I don't care what they say, I ain't movin' to England.

The Dome reports today that Karl Rove, who masterminded the decline and fall of American civilization, thinks our own Senator Burr should be the new face of the Republican Party. I have to say, I love this idea. A sitting Senator who recently gushed all over Governor Sarah Palin at a campaign rally, introducing her to adoring fans as a "gun totin' mama"? What could be better than that? Dick Burr seems to be the perfect figurehead to showcase the intellectual void of the right wing fringe.

Greensboro editors say, "People just have to extend more common courtesies to one another, putting the Golden Rule into everyday practice." Duh.

Carter Wrenn wonders what's wrong with this picture.

The Asheville paper says budget cuts shouldn't gut mental health - again.

Jack Betts has a typo in his ode to Ferrel Guillory.

Fayetteville editors like gleaning.

Or at least tries too. Here's the story, from public editor Ted Vaden.

Thank you once again for your patience while we upgraded just about everything there is to do with BlueNC. Over the next few days you will see some tweaking to how the site looks, but for the most we will stay up and running and should have no intentional down time.

As I write this, functionality is limited to writing blog posts and making comments which is all most of us do anyway. Give me a couple of days before nudging me for your favorite feature if one has gone missing. I will do my very best to make sure we don't lose anything you like.

Since the events calendar is missing I'll just remind you to register for the 2008 PDNC convention in Greensboro Dec 5&6 by Sunday to get the early bird rates.

It's the holiday season again, which means our rabid consumerism gets cranked up several notches in intensity. See, we're not just consuming for ourselves, we're consuming for the dozen or two people who have made it to our, "I can't forget these people" Christmas list, which means that you've probably made it to all of their lists. And then there's that obsessive-compulsive styrofoam-reindeer-antler-wearing crazy person that has like 75 people on their list, and the only communication between giver and recipient each year is the card attached to the designer-imposter cologne. Which is cool.

As you can see, we're still under construction, so traffic is low and slow. Soon we'll have a new -and-improved BlueNC ... for which we can all thank Betsy Muse! In the meantime, may your days be blessed and happy.

James

This one from Rob Schofield ... ripped off in its entirety without permission.

An open letter to the Governor-elect

Dear Governor-elect Perdue:

It's been pretty crazy around here the last three weeks. What with the economic meltdown, the dramatic change in Washington and then the state budget shortfall and all of the news surrounding your soon-to-be administration here in Raleigh, some of us progressives have forgotten our manners.

We launched right into a series of critiques of your campaign and your initial statements and actions after the election without even taking a step back and saying some basic things that need to be said. Sorry about that. This can happen when you care a lot - or as one conservative Republican lawmaker told us the other day in a rather strange email, "have such hatred in your heart." (We don't actually, and will try to take the attack as a compliment).

Anyway, we never congratulated you on your victory. You beat two formidable and accomplished politicians in a pair of tough, hard fought campaigns. In a year that everyone agreed was about "change" you figured out a way to win as a familiar figure running on a statewide ballot for the third consecutive election.

Please take our Blog Reader Project survey.

This survey takes about ten minutes and will give us a good idea of just who our audience is. The results are not given out individually and every single answer you give is kept confidential unless you choose to talk about it here.

Happy Thanksgiving! I'm off to the woods of Pennsyltucky tomorrow morning, so I wanted to wish everyone a happy turkey day and also leave you with a little color. This is a picture of Sharpies on paper that I took with my Blackberry.
Why? Well, the fact that they are mounted on a slide should give you a hint, more after the break.

I live in the most beautiful place in the world. As far as I am concerned the mountains of North Carolina are in a class all to themselves. I am often caught off guard by the sheer beauty and power of the place I am fortunate enough to call home.
Most people love the mountains of NC for their peaceful beauty, I love them because they are not filled with coal. Our mountains had the remarkable good fortune to escape certain geologic conditions that leave the mountains in surrounding states, chock full of the dirtiest fuel source on the planet.

You may not know it, here in northeastern NC we are STILL battling to save our future and way of life. The Navy is seeking to place an Outlying Landing Field (OLF) in Camden County that will remove up to 53,000 acres of valuable, productive farmland from the county’s tax rolls.

Please keep in mind that the OLF will not create any jobs for our community and will not be of economic benefit to our area. We have discovered that the current OLF at Fentress Field in Chesapeake, Virginia, employs only 38 military personnel (Section 3.5.1.1 of the 2003 FEIS) and has attracted virtually no economic development.

We're getting there. We're also cleaning up some messes along the way. BlueNC won't look like this forever, but we can still use BlueNC as we always have. Let's talk about some changes that will stick around even after BlueNC looks like BlueNC.

1. First, let's take a look at how we write our blog posts. When you open the page to write a blog you should see one big square. We no longer need a separate teaser. We will use the radio button above the square that reads, "Split summary at cursor." As soon as you finish writing your teaser just click on that button.